Construction planning and efficiency measures helped generate significant time and cost savings in completing this ethylene glycol production complex in Freeport, Texas—the first that MEGlobal parent company, Kuwait-based EQUATE Petrochemical Group, has built in the U.S.

When scheduling conflicts for equipment and material deliveries occurred, construction manager Worley, mechanical contractor Fluor Corp. and owner MEGlobal collaborated to modify work sequences and, in some cases, transfer work from other contractors to Fluor, says the submission.

The project included more than 250,000 linear ft of heavy-wall, high-alloy, 8-in. average diameter pipe. Only four of its 80,000 welds were rejected, according to the construction team. Pipe productivity on the project also likely saved more than $60 million, compared to market averages, the submission says. Fluor credits the project's 0.19% final weld-reject rate to its strong welding training program.

Work finished in just 21 months on this complex world-scale facility that is set to manufacture 750,000 metric tons per year of monoethylene glycol and di-ethylene glycol, faster than the industry average, says the project team.

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